Camilo Villegas wins The Honda Classic

Colombia’s Camilo Villegas secured his third PGA Tour title at PGA National in Florida, winning The Honda Classic by five shots from Anthony Kim of the USA.

Camilo Villegas

Colombia's Camilo Villegas secured his third PGA Tour title at PGA National in Florida, winning The Honda Classic by five shots from Anthony Kim of the USA.

Villegas didn't play a practice round at the PGA National resort, arriving back from Colombia on Wednesday night after a series of fundraising events. But the lack of preparation clearly didn't affect him as he opened with back-to-back 66s.

The Colombian took a three-shot lead into the final round but that advantage was cut to just two when veteran Fijian Vijay Singh birdied the fifth. Villegas responded by making three straight birdies from the eighth and that run gave him a lead he would never relinquish.

Although his putter went a little cold on the back nine, he holed a 20-foot birdie effort on the final green to take the title and climb to 12th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

"It's very special," Villegas said. "I'm just very privileged to do what I do. But trust me, it's tough. These guys are good. That is so true. These guys are good."

England's Justin Rose made the biggest move on the final day, he fired a closing 64 to climb into third place, one shot behind Anthony Kim in second. The result increases the possibility that Rose might scrape into the world's top-50 and make it to the Masters.

"I think I'm where I am because I've been thinking about it too much," he said. "I've been trying to take my mindset back to when I first came out on the PGA Tour."

Another Englishman, Paul Casey ended the week in a tie for fourth with Vijay Singh. Lee Westwood was tied ninth.

The Honda Classic PGA National Resort & Spa, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Mar 4-7, purse $5,600,000, par 70

1    Camilo Villegas (Col)    66    66    67    68    267    $1,008,000 2    Anthony Kim (USA)    68    64    73    67    272    $604,800 3    Justin Rose (Eng)        70    72    67    64    273    $380,800 T4    Paul Casey (Eng)        73    64    70    67    274    $246,400 T4    Vijay Singh (Fij)        67    66    69    72    274    $246,400 T6    Michael Connell (USA)    65    71    69    71    276    $194,600 T6    Fredrik Jacobson (Swe)    69    69    69    69    276    $194,600 8    Charlie Wi (Kor)        72    67    68    70    277    $173,600 T9    Brendon de Jonge (RSA) 70    73    67    68    278    $151,200 T9    Chris Tidland (USA)    73    67    67    71    278    $151,200 T9    Lee Westwood (Eng)    69    71    70    68    278    $151,200

Note: Player scores in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?